Failure to Launch

“…living with mom and dad, or mom and dad-in-law, is just practical. The Gwinns are using would-be rent money to pay off debts and save up to buy into Seattle’s out-of-reach housing market. And they are not alone.

While moving home with a spouse has been common in many cultures, now it seems to be hitting the U.S. mainstream for economic purposes — at least in pricey cities such as Seattle.

More than 22 million adult sons and daughters were living in a household maintained by one or both parents in 2005, compared with 15 million in 1970, according to Census Bureau statistics. Fourteen percent of all U.S. families included at least one adult child in 2005 — up 3 percentage points since 1970; a Census analysis attributed the increase to delayed marriage and increasing costs to set up and maintain a household.

Kate Gwinn, 26, said some of her friends moved back in with their parents for a while before they bought houses, and these are young people with good jobs.“It’s like what all the cool kids are doing,” she joked.

“The problem is, home prices outpaced income growth,” center Director Nicolas Retsinas said. “Moving in with mom and dad gives you that sort of breathing room to catch up.”

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5 comments:

Mary Wellings, 26, moved back in with her mom for about a year to pay off debts and save up for the Ballard condo she bought in August 2005.

According to the county records, she financed 100% of the purchase price ($152K) with a 40 year arm, which adjusted after 1 year to LIBOR+4.99%. With current rates, she’s paying over 9% on the primary.

What happened to all that money she saved up living at home? My guess would be Ikea and The Pottery Barn.

…and I’m not sure about the rest of the world but we are chock-a-blok full of step parents.

The only thing keeping us in Florida was my wife’s graduation from USF. I tried to time the sale of our home as close to that date as possible, but missed by two months (too early).

My Dad invited us to stay with him and the stepmonster for those 2 months. I kept our area as clean as possible, however we’d often wake up to a surprise or two. The “thud” of the bedroom door opening outward to hit the vacuum cleaner (hmm, why would she put that there?). Or various post-it notes “recyclables DO NOT go in here!” I guess verbal communication was out for some reason.